My Event Ratings

Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		80%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Lots of potential, would suggest slight tweakage
In full: I liked this event a lot in spite being a bit of a twit and managing to get myself lost and run rather more distance than I would have liked [0].

What's good ...

Organisation and friendliness of everyone taking part and helping out was extremely pleasant. The squash and isotonic cake :-) at the refreshment locations was also most welcome, as was the clanger at the end.

What could be improved ...

Well I live in Bedford and frequently go off over the fields so I'm quite familiar with the terrain. There's a small part of the course that we ran that went through a pretty grotty part of Bedford around the London Road area. I'd suggest that this could be avoided whilst keeping the same distance and improving scenic potential by taking the race loop further North and then coming in along past Priory country path and along the banks of the river through town.

What to look out for if you're thinking about this ...

We ran it in quite dry conditions, if it's wet Bedford soil is mostly clay, it will be a lot harder, make sure to wear shoes that both grip and also shed the clay.



[0] Entirely my own fault for a) being too slow to complete the course before the iPhone's batteries went dead when I was using that to navigate [1] and b) somewhere along the way managing to lose Noel's excellent written instructions.


[1] very good up to that point.
Date of review: January 16, 2011

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		80%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Nice well organised end of year race
In full: I guess in an ideal world I'd have been chauffeured to and from my house to the start/finish, with nubile young ladies to rub me down at the end after I ran a sub 1:30. Putting aside fantasy lets see what we actually had. We had
- plenty of parking on hard standing.
- regular buses to and from the parking to the start.
- quick bag storage/chip collection.
- good marshalling
- a nice rugby shirt memento
- plenty of loos.
- a course through some of the nicer bits of Beds
- the weather playing ball
- sausage or bacon butties at the end.

I had a good race, and to be fair, I can't honestly think of anything that could realistically have been done better.

Thank you Bedford Harriers and your marshals for putting it on.
Date of review: December 12, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		80%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Lovely scenery with the odd testing hill to view it from, well organised
In full: Excellent race in lovely scenery with some testing ascents and fun descents. All helped along by some good organisation with nice touches [1] and pretty much ideal running weather and conditions under foot this year.

Very difficult to find fault, thank you Chepstow Harriers for organising, hopefully will be back next year.


[1] Jelly babies at the water stops were most welcome, as was the cake or beer at the end ;-)
Date of review: April 12, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		80%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Well run small event that showed off the best of Bedford (mostly)
In full: Noel and the organisers have managed to put on a very nice small event with nice touches.

The route essentially takes you around Bedford from the West side clockwise and in the process manages to show most of the really nice bits to run in the area and one slightly dodgy bit (see http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=mtygquumzxeuisbl for the precise route). In the process the runner gets to run mostly off road by the side of rivers, over fields and by historic buildings (airship hangers, Bunyans birthplace). It's self guided, so if your not careful, like me, you can easily end up doing extra miles (oh the cruel fates ... I could practically see the finish line but short of swimming a bloody river ...).

This year the weather conditions were great and the going was very very good under foot. However if it gets run again, then folks should bear in mind that from personal experience in wet conditions there are bits of the course that are fairly unpleasant (think very heavy shoes caked in the stickiest claggiest Bedford clay). However, not this year so that was a welcome relief ;-)

Organisation was first class and very friendly. The drinks stations were where they said they would be with plenty of water, squashes and cakes/biscuits if you were partial to a mid race top up ;-).

Overall I really enjoyed the race, I don't even mind screwing up the the time by getting lost, if Noel and his crew decide to run it again then I'll be there.

Well done, would recommend.
Date of review: March 14, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		100%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		60%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Bogtastic
In full: Done this race for a few years now; there's something about doing stuff that you're mum told you you shouldn't (principally jumping in streams and playing in the mud) that can't fail to put a smile on your face after the 9 to 5 of the week.

This year was muddier and slippier than last time I did it, so PB went out of the window, but still very pleased with performance. Very impressive spread of cakes at the end most welcome. Only teensy weensy black mark would be for the state of the dribblers in male changing area (calling them showers is an insult to showers ;-) ) other than that no probs.

Tips for those who have not done before:

1) Really do not even think of wearing road shoes unless it's been bone dry for 30 days previous.
2) Do not wear shoes you worry about getting dirty.
2) Forget PB's
3) Enjoy.

Great race.
Date of review: March 1, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		60%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Very pleasant course and company, good introduction to off road running
In full: The course runs through some pleasant scenery and is nicely varied with a few hills in it to keep things interesting and some very pleasant fast descents off the back of them as compensation. Conditions under foot were really rather good most of the way round, only a few places where it was a bit muddy, but nothing compared to May Hill, could at a push have done in road shoes (if you didn't mind getting them mucky)

This was my first race in over a year and I really enjoyed it. I may well be back and I'd recommend it to anyone, but especially to anyone who's considering giving the off road running thing a bit of a go.
Date of review: February 9, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		Maybe
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		40%
Organisation		40%
Value		40%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Heat, poor planning and an inadequate response
Date of review: May 13, 2008

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		100%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		60%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Good weather and an entertaining run through some glorious scenery - what more could you want
In full: Very, very enjoyable run in the country.

Hills were fairly challenging (harder than say the terminator) but very little mud, good weather and excellent scenery made these easier than otherwise to cope with.

Course layout and marshalling was very well done.

Couple of minor suggestion for improvement:
- goody bag at the end is better
- I really enjoyed this, would've ideally liked a tee shirt to commemorate (something a la terminator style would've been ideal)
Date of review: April 28, 2008

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		100%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		60%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Great fun, nice scenery, short intense hills with fun downhills.
In full: Lot less muddy than last couple of years and weather was good on the day making for a much faster race overall. Usual good marshalling with nice distinctive tee shirt at the end applied. Big thanks to Pewsey for organising such a good event.
Date of review: February 25, 2008

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		60%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Mudtastic fun
In full: Friendly atmosphere, entertaining course, with tons of mud of every conceivable type and consistency and some nice long gallops as well.

All in all, really nice race, grown a bit from last year, would expect the same again next.
Date of review: January 21, 2008

Report this rating to the moderator